conferences

The coordinators of the planned SBE18-20 conferences that are part of the Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) series, held a meeting in Paris during 18-19 January, with the SBE partners who own and manage the series. Representatives of the series co-owners (Nils Larsson, Wim Bakens, Luis Bragança and Jean Félix) provided background on the series, which has been going since 2000, its objectives and future plans. Each event coordinator who attended then described the plans for their events.

It is about time to provide an update on the status of the SBE conference series. As most readers of this website are aware, the series is managed by CIB, iiSBE, UNEP-SBCI and FIDIC and operates on a three-year cycle. This year has a focus on planning, while next year will feature at least 19 and probably 20 national events, to be climaxed in 2017 by the World SBE conference in Hong Kong. The attached file provides a current overview of the situation.

The process for establishing the 2016 SBE conferences is well underway. Proposals have been received and approved for national / regional events in Dubai, Malta, Hamburg, Porto, Zurich, Prague, Tallinn and Helsinki, and Cairo. More proposals are being prepared for Malmö, Manila and Torino, and others are also expected.

The global event for 2017, WSBE17 Hong Kong, was selected in October and that major event is tentatively scheduled for 5-7 June of 2017.

The deadline for SBE16 proposals is 20 February, and all conference organizers have been invited to attend a meeting of conference organizers in Paris on 5 and 6 March. Representatives of the series owners, CIB, iiSBE, UNEP-SBCI and FIDIC as well as some of the series advisors will also attend.

The purpose of the meeting is for the various organizers to meet each other and to discuss matters of mutual interest and concern. We will report soon after this meeting.

The next cycle of conferences on sustainable building will consist of national or regional events in 2016, followed by a global conference in 2017. For this cycle, the international co-promoters have decided that a more appropriate title for the series is Sustainable Built Environment (SBE), rather than the Sustainable Building title used so far. This shift is a more appropriate reflection of the fact that we wish to cover small urban issues as well as building-scale concerns.

The IWA World Congress on Water, Climate and Energy, taking place in Dublin, Ireland 13-18 May 2012.

Climate change is forcing us to reassess our energy usage and will have real substantial impacts on the water cycle as well as energy production. Solving the interlinked challenges of water, climate and
energy in a sustainable manner is one of the fundamental goals of this
generation.

The Congress will explore topics of resilient and sustainable cities with a focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation, energy
including:

The Congress will attract over 2000 like-minded water, climate and
energy professionals from across the globe to exchange ideas, explore
the state of the art and debate the key issues underlying the science
and practice of these inectricably linked natural, utility and
infrastructural issues of our time.